W. BASKETBALL

BLOG #4: Not a Sore Loser, Just Sore

November 14, 2011

By: Becca Walters

Ugh. The trials of aging.

Today, while merely shooting around in the gym, the left side of my body just decided to quit working. I paused for a moment to gather myself and continued to throw up a shot. Concerned, junior guard Brittany Cox looked over and cautiously asked, “Coach, did something just give out?”

To some, my age might not be indicative towards the level of my creakiness and sometimes noticeably slower gait.

Don’t get me wrong, if need be, I can still throw down. It’s just that I will definitely pay for it more afterwards, and the recovery time is prolonged quite a bit.

But in my defense, I have a lot of miles on this body. I have also never one to be light on my feet, and that is really catching up with me. I now have to warm-up for my warm-up. Stretching is no longer a bother; it’s a necessity. What happened to the days of rolling out of bed, throwing on some shoes, and jumping into a game of pick-up? Shoot, if I did that now, I would end up with three pulled muscles and two sprained joints.

Fittingly, last weekend we hosted our Alumni versus Falcons game. In the past, I had always envisioned playing in an alumni game and dominating.

Well, turns out, it’s difficult to dominate when you can’t feel your legs. I will say I lasted longer than I had thought. I didn’t expend too much energy bringing the ball up the floor and jacking up 25-footers. And I have never wanted to be a defensive stopper, so I didn’t expect anything from that end. However, the highlight of the game for me was swatting away a shot from our all-conference post player (no need to call her out). Even though she might have scored on me every other time she had the ball, I will continue to gloat about my one stop. But it wasn’t enough, as the Falcons came out on top, winning by seven.

I realize that I will continue to get older and some things will become more difficult (and painful). I just hope I can make it through the times when I have to demonstrate a move or a jump in a drill without hurting myself and looking like a fool.

Bring on the ibuprofen.

- A shout out to Vontenea Williams, a junior guard from Granite Falls, NC, on being accepted into graduate school at Pfeiffer. Congratulations, Vontenea!